Railways plans to do away with prison terms for petty offences
NEW DELHI: The Railways is planning to remove provisions for imprisonment from several minor offences, making acts such as travelling without a ticket or riding on the footboard punishable only with penalties.
The move, a part of Centre’s plans to decriminalise a bunch of Indian laws and provisions in order to ease the burden on courts, also involves removing offences such as begging as an illegal activity from the Railways Act of 1989.
The ministry has now begun a comprehensive review of all provisions of the law and is likely to make is easier to prosecute minor violations through “compounding
with the objective of preventing harassment of citizens, de-clogging the criminal justice system and promoting ease of doing business,” according to an official aware of the development.
Compounding refers to the practice of using on-spot fines.
“The cabinet secretary had asked all ministries to review such offences. We are under the process of reviewing existing laws for the ministry,” said Arun Kumar, the director general of the Railway Protection Force, the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the Indian railways network. It passes on suspects to the Government Railway Police (GRP) that investigates and prosecutes an offence.
Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba had asked for the review in a letter to all ministries and departments on June 1.
At present, carrying out an offence while in a train, a railway station or on railway property is punishable either by a fine, jail term or both.
Among the offences that will no longer include a jail term are pulling the alarm chain for no reason, travelling without authorisation, trespassing and riding in reserved coaches. According to the official quoted in the first instance, 16 sections under the act have been identified to be diluted.
Some of these are: Sections 137 (travelling without proper pass/ authority), 141 (alarm chain pulling), 144 (hawking), 145 (committing nuisance), 147 (trespass and failure to desist from trespass), 157(altering/defacing pass/ ticket), 159(disobedience of lawful instructions by drivers in railway area), 162 (unauthorized travel in ladies coaches), 166 (penalties for littering) and 167 (smoking in passenger area).
The penalty for travelling without a ticket at present, for instance, could be a fine of up to ₹1,000 or a prison term that extends to six months.
“The ministry has sought comments from railway officers for the proposal,” the official said. There are nearly 37 penal offences under Railway Act at present.
According to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) the number of chain pulling incidents reported in 2019 was 55,373, while 45,784 were arrested and 43,951 prosecuted.